This artist's rendering shows what Passaic's Eastside might look like after redevelopment.

Plan also calls

for greenway

PASSAIC — A new vision for the city's battered Eastside looks past the potholes and empty factories to a day when the streets are smooth and shaded and the riverfront is a place to have fun.

The plan put forth this week by Together North Jersey is just that — a plan — and offers only a sketch of what the Eastside could become. But everything starts with an idea, and so the plan presented to about 30 people at Mi Casa Puebla on Wednesday evening covered just about every inch of the 95-acre Eastside Redevelopment Zone established by the City Council last year.

Together North Jersey is a regional planning initiative that brings together transportation and economic redevelopment agencies with state, county and local governments.

The group's redevelopment plan revolves around four sites: the Uniroyal factory at Passaic and Market streets, the Labor Day 1985 fire site on Eighth Street, the recently cleared Pantasote factory site on Jefferson Street and the old Passaic Board of Education building at 220 Passaic St. The plan recommends replacing the denuded, concrete streetscape with something more pleasant: trees, benches, better lighting and art.

The Uniroyal complex, commonly referred to as Big Apple West, already is targeted for conversion to a 550-unit apartment, with retail stores on the ground floor and a riverfront walk in the back. Together North Jersey recommends that an L-shaped patch of lawn in front of the Uniroyal building at Market and Passaic streets be turned into a town square.

"It would be a place with trees, tables and chairs, maybe a low-scale restaurant," said Annisia Cialone, spokeswoman for Together North Jersey. "It would re-animate the square."

Another idea is to reanimate Market Street, with its row of storefronts. The neighborhood is dubbed "Little Mexico" for its collection of thriving Mexican food distributors. The plan recommends that the city develop the area into an open-air market, with bins of fruits and vegetables set out on the sidewalk.

Only a few blocks away on Jefferson Street is the 8-acre Pantasote site, freshly cleared of its industrial ruins and ready for redevelopment. The plan recommends that whatever is built there, it should not be strictly retail but should provide some sort of entertainment in harmony with the Mexican flavor of area.

Last year, the city received an offer from a Mexican company that wanted to stage rodeos at the Pantasote site. Whether that offer is still on the table is unclear; city officials recently declined to comment.

The plan calls for better street lighting and signage throughout the Eastside, and for the city to brighten the ugly Route 21 overpass on Passaic Street. The report suggests that a mural and better lighting would do the trick.

"That's an important spot because the Route 21 overpass connects the Eastside to the downtown," Cialone said.

The plan recommends that the city reclaim its waterfront by building a 2-mile greenway. It would begin at Dundee Park and wind its way down past South Street and the Uniroyal building and end at a point somewhere opposite the Wallington side of the river. Greenways could either be accompanied by a boardwalk, be left as open space, or be a combination of both.

One member of the audience Wednesday night questioned whether a walkway could be built because the river is so prone to flooding. Eric Fang, the planner and architect who gave the presentation, said that some greenway projects are designed to mitigate flooding, and that the federal government frequently pays at least part of the construction cost.

"This is an opportunity for the city to create open space," Fang said. "What's most important as the city updates its redevelopment plan is to include public access to the waterfront."

The Eastside grew up along the Passaic River and was once the city's industrial hub. But heavy manufacturing — steel, chemicals and rubber — has all but disappeared from the city. A huge fire that tore through Eighth Street on Labor Day in 1985 destroyed much of the remaining manufacturing base.

The City Council established the Eastside Redevelopment Zone last year. It has already signed a developer's agreement with Pennrose LLC, a Philadelphia-based company, to convert the Uniroyal complex into apartments and retail. Up the street, the Passaic housing authority has plans to raze at least half of the six high-rise towers at the Speer Village public housing complex.

Together North Jersey is a Rutgers University-based consortium brought in by the city to create a comprehensive plan for Eastside redevelopment. The consortium held two meetings with residents during the winter to get their input. Together North Jersey will now compile its recommendations into a report that will be posted on its website in the next two months, Cialone said.